The Form Advocate

Jason Gabrieli (CFP), Investor Coach

Case Study Snapshot

HFM Investment Advisors, LLC came to know FormAssembly through their use of Salesforce. As a small business with a staff of only 5 full-time personnel, “finding new technology to solve our problems, and make the experience better for clients,” was of utmost importance, Gabrieli said. The firm primarily uses FormAssembly to initiate the onboarding process with new clients and to alleviate the strain of manual data entry.

The Numbers

full-time staff members

form responses, representative of new clients, since implementation

hours (estimated) of work time saved, since 2016

$1500

(estimated) saved in paper costs and working hours, since 2016

The Problem:

Lack of Modern Digital Processes

“

We know that in reality we’re competing with other companies that are also large financial companies. People are getting used to doing things online and having a clearly-worked out onboarding process. Old processes can dig at your credibility and show that you’re living in the past or not up with the times, which can translate into a loss of client trust and potentially their business,” Gabrieli shared.

Prior to implementing FormAssembly as their web form solution, HFM Investment Advisors used paper forms and manual processes when conducting new client intakes. Not only was this burdensome for their small staff, but they suspected that it would hold them back from keeping up with modern competitors. As a small business, they recognized the need to stay on the cutting edge of technology when it came to client relationships.

The Result:

Time-Tested, Dependable Web Forms

Although the business has one primary use case, that one form plays an integral role in shaping their business. The form is crucial in the process of getting to know new families and clients, and HFM collects at least a dozen responses per month. Since the form is intuitively connected to Salesforce, it saves time and manpower.

“

For a team member to accurately build out a household in Salesforce from a paper form, it would be at least a half-hour,” Gabrieli said.

As a result, Gabrieli estimates that since the firm started using FormAssembly in 2016, they’ve managed to save up to 100 working hours and an estimated $1,500 in costs for data entry and paper supplies.

One of the greatest benefits of using FormAssembly is its dependability and simplicity. HFM has continued to use their form intake process for several years now, with minimal maintenance and low strain on their staff members.

“One of the best things about FormAssembly is extremely reliable. I set up my form 2 years ago and I’ve never had to fix it,” Gabrieli said.

Use Case: Client Onboarding Form

HFM Investment Advisors streamlines the process for getting to know new clients.

The company’s primary use case is a family information form that collects data for new clients so that the advising team can establish solid relationships from the start. With conditional logic and questions, HFM alleviates the pain point for clients who get stumped on certain questions and abandon their submissions. Moreover, by using the Salesforce Connector, HFM guarantees that information is populated to the correct fields within their Salesforce database.

“Being able to have a smart form that can accomodate people is very important. [FormAssembly] can really be very intuitive and granular, and it can do very specific things,” Gabrieli said.

Donation Form

Keshet’s donation forms are used in conjunction with the Authorize.net connector, which enables them to accept and process credit card payments through their forms.

Registration Form

Keshet uses FormAssembly to create registration forms for all of their events. For programs with complex registration processes, they can use FormAssembly’s features to establish workflows to keep information organized. The organization currently makes use of over 50 active forms.

What’s Next?

FormAssembly helps HFM stay current in the financial industry while providing simplicity for a portion of their essential operating procedures. Using a modernized web form also assists with process control, ensuring that data is currently collected on the first attempt. In the future, HFM hopes to develop a two-way form to verify a client’s personal information and identity.

Learn more about why FormAssembly is the perfect fit for financial services organizations.